


Pressed Flowers

by nychus



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Flowers, Fluff, Ignoct Writing Weekend, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-20 04:28:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14887643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nychus/pseuds/nychus
Summary: When Noctis shares his disdain for the flowers he once loved, Ignis comes up with an idea to work past it. They begin to pass a notebook back and forth with flower pressed between the pages.





	Pressed Flowers

**Author's Note:**

> For IgNoct Writing Weekend 2018
> 
> I only hit the object prompt which was "Pressed Flowers"
> 
> I feel kinda bad since I did something similar on the last IgNoct week, but other than using flowers and their meanings, it's completely different.

Ignis entered Noctis’s chambers to find it lacking a prince. The place was filled with flowers of all sorts, but Noctis was nowhere to be found. Ignis frowned.

He had only seen Noctis once since the attack, and that was when the prince was lying unconscious in the hospital. Ignis had only been allowed in briefly so that he could see with his own eyes that Noctis lived. Then Noctis was whisked away to Tenebrae, forced home under horrible circumstances, and no one would allow Ignis near him in the week he’d been back at the Citadel.

Having had enough, Ignis finally snuck away and into the royal chambers, only to find it empty. He set the small pot with a single flower in it down when he noticed the balcony door open. Noctis must be out there.

“Noctis,” Ignis breathed. It seemed almost too unreal that his friend was right in front of him again. It’d been months.

Noctis turned to look at the other boy and it took all of Ignis’s power to not gasp at what he saw. His prince, the one that had been so full of life and mischief, looked hollow. His eyes didn’t twinkle like they used to. Ignis mentally kicked himself for not realizing that of course Noctis would have changed. He’d almost died at the hands of a daemon and then watched as the Oracle was murdered in front of him while her children were taken hostage by the empire.

“Iggy,” the prince said with a small smile.

Ignis wanted to grab him and hold him in a tight hug, but since Noctis was still in a wheelchair, all he did was take hold of his hand and give a good squeeze.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been to see you sooner. Everyone seemed to think I would upset you and thus kept me away. I finally managed to sneak away though.”

There was a nod as Noctis said, “Yeah.”

“I’m surprised they let you outside,” Ignis said, trying to keep some sort of conversation going, “I would think they’d be afraid you’d catch cold.”

A shrug. “I didn’t want to be with the flowers anymore.”

“Why not?” Ignis had always thought Noctis liked flowers. All the time they spent in the gardens making flower crowns and putting small flowers behind their ears was an indication. Why the change now, he wondered.

“Because they die,” Noctis mumbled. “They die like Queen Sylva and…and Marguerite.”

Flowers were ephemeral and Ignis couldn’t blame the prince for not wanting to be around death after all that has happened.

“Yeah,” Ignis agreed. “Yeah. I’ll tell someone to take them away.”

“I don’t want them to think I’m weak.”

“You’re not weak, Noctis,” Ignis assured him with a kiss on the crown of his head. “If it would make you feel better, I’ll tell them that all the flower scents have become overpowering and are giving you headaches.”

“Yes, I’d like that.” After a beat, he quietly added, “Thank you.”

Ignis stayed for a few minutes longer, sitting in quiet contemplation with his broken friend. When he finally stood to leave, Noctis stopped him by saying, “I’m going to miss flowers,” and nothing more.

Grabbing the flower pot next to the door, Ignis left to find his uncle who could easily get someone to remove the flowers.

That night, Ignis was staring at the potted flower and trying to figure out a way to continue sharing flowers with Noctis. This particular one, a bright red poppy, had been the favorite of the prince’s for the last several months for the attack. Ignis had hoped it would cheer him up but he didn’t begrudge his friend for his new take on flowers. He started thinking about ways to share the flower. Fake flowers were readily available, but the seemed so impersonal. He could make paper flowers, putting a little love into each fold of paper, but that seemed to abstract.

Then it hit him. Pressed flowers were a thing. His mother had a scrapbook that had some flowers inside. His favorite was the daisy that his dad had given her on their first date. Perhaps a pressed flower would be okay to Noctis. Yeah, it’s technically dead, but aren’t all flowers once you cut them?

Ignis immediately started researching the best way to press flowers and how to get them to adhere to the pages of a book. He found different methods and decided to test out each one before choosing the one he would make the official press with. Even though it took several weeks, when he had a perfectly pressed poppy, he was beyond pleased with himself.

Next to the poppy, he wrote “Noctis’s favorite flower, Age 8.” The idea was to add to this book often and see how things changed.

By the time Ignis was ready to give the book, Noctis was moving around again, sometimes without his wheelchair. It was good to see Noctis out of his chambers and it always brought smile to Ignis’s face when he was.

Giving the book to Noctis was another issue. While the night before he had been so proud of his work, now that he was faced with handing it over, he felt foolish. The conversation had happened months ago now. He probably didn’t even remember it. He probably hated flowers in all forms, not just the live ones he had had in his chambers. Had Noctis not happened to have caught a glance of the book and inquired after it, Ignis may not have given it to him at all.

“What’s that?” Noctis asked, trying to see behind Ignis’s back.

“Oh, this? It’s a book. I, uh, I…it’s for you,” Ignis said, handing it over. Noctis eyed him curiously, wondering why he seemed so nervous.

The book opened immediately to the page with the poppy on it and Noctis stared. Ignis bit his lip, completely unsure of what the look was indicating. Happiness? Sadness? Annoyance? He couldn’t tell. Then the tiniest hint of a smile came and there were tears in Noctis’s eyes when he looked back up to Ignis.

“You…you found a way for me to keep enjoying flowers,” Noctis said. He was trying so very hard to keep the tears from falling and he was losing so valiantly.

Relief rushed over Ignis. “I thought we could add to it. Any flower that might have some sort of meaning to you, we could add it to the book with a note as to why.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’d like that.” With that, Noctis fell into Ignis’s arms and the boys hugged for a very long time.

~*~*~*~*~

It was just before Ignis’s 10th birthday when he suddenly had to have an appendectomy, causing him to be in the hospital for a few days. During this time, Noctis asked his father what an appropriate flower to send to Ignis would be. Regis suggested a sunflower, but once Noctis told him what it was for, he changed it to the small daisy, since it was still cheerful. Noctis immediately went to acquire one to press. Being Noctis, he didn’t experiment with different ways of pressing. He just found the easiest and fastest way to get it done.

Next to the flower, he wrote “Iggy has surgery, 28/1/744.”

He then presented the book with a smile in response to Ignis’s confusion.

“This is yours,” Ignis said, taking the proffered book.

“It’s ours,” Noctis answered. “Luna and I write back and forth in a notebook. We can send flowers to each other in a notebook.”

Opening the book to see the daisy, Ignis couldn’t help but start crying, alarming the poor prince.

“Iggy, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to make you cry!”

“It’s fine, Noct,” Ignis sniffed. Once he got better control of himself, he told Noctis how it was a daisy that had started the pressed flower idea and how it was his mother’s favorite.

Noctis had never felt so proud of himself before that moment.

Thus, it started. A tradition of sending pressed flowers to each other for every major (and sometimes not so major) life event. They didn’t take turns like Noctis had to with Lunafreya, instead just adding to it as necessary. Ignis added an iris after Noctis’s adventure with the younger Amicitia and almost immediately added a gladiolus when Noctis told him he and his future shield had come to an understanding.

Flowers were given for driver’s licenses, first successful warp, first time beating Gladio in training, graduations, Crownsguard initiation, and other things of that sort. It became super easy to get the book from each other once Noctis had mastered the armiger and Ignis was granted access.

They had fun pulling it out together on occasion and looking through the contents.

“I can’t believe you added a harleqyin with ‘Iggy swears loudly in front of Clarus,’” Ignis muttered one time.

“What? It was hilarious!” Noctis laughed, remembering the stunned look on everyone’s face when a very inappropriate word slipped through Ignis’s lips after being tripped up by Gladio.

The meanings of the different flowers became an important part of the fun when Noctis labeled one “Peony (Wild Field)” before handing it to Ignis with a snicker. The occasion was because “Iggy made me eat carrots” and Ignis had to figure out the full meaning behind it all. Noctis obviously wanted him to know, else he wouldn’t have labeled it, and so Ignis set to work doing some research.

“Peony, wild field, means…resentment and anger. Really, Noct?” Ignis laughed. He then bookmarked the website for later use.

As they got older, the flowers began to get a little more personal. Ignis didn’t know what to make of Noctis handing him the book and immediately running away. They had always stayed to get reactions before. He also couldn’t fathom what the reasoning for a flower would be.

Confused, Ignis opened the notebook to the last page to find a belladonna pressed with “Noctis risks everything to ask Ignis on a date.”

Now Ignis was stunned. Especially after finding out one of the meanings was “I dream of you.” It took a moment to allow everything to sink in before he went to find the appropriate flower to answer. A jonquil. It was spring, so that flower should be easy enough to find. Sure enough, he had a flower pressed into the notebook before nightfall when he headed to Noctis’s apartment.

“Hi,” Noctis said quietly when he answered the door. He took the book that Ignis held out and flipped to the back page. He saw the jonquil and “Ignis’s answer” but nothing more. Ignis kept his face schooled as Noctis glared at him before going to his computer to look up the meaning of a jonquil.

“Affection returned, desire, love me,” he read before looking back to see a smile on Ignis’s face. Before Noctis could say anything, Ignis closed the distance between them in a few quick strides and pulled the prince into a kiss.

“Do you know how long I’ve wanted to do that?” Ignis asked. Noctis just smiled.

A few years later, as the notebook was finally becoming completely filled, Noctis made sure he got to have the last page. “It’s only fair,” he reasoned, “you got to start it, I get to finish it.”

Finish it he did. When it was down to the last page, Noctis pressed as many daisies as he could into the notebook with the note, “Marry me?”

Ignis didn’t need to start a new notebook to give his answer of “Yes.”


End file.
